At Broadway & Prince
by Ladder to the Sun
Summary: The story of how 20-something Bella Swan's life intersects with the life of Movie Star Edward Cullen at this popular SOHO crossroads. Broadway & Prince may be just two streets in NYC but for Edward & Bella, they become so much more.


**At Broadway and Prince**

**The story of how 20-something Bella Swan's life intersects with the life of Movie Star Edward Cullen at this popular SOHO crossroads. Will they be more than just two strangers in passing?**

**===B&P===**

Ugh. I'm late again. I hate the N and the R trains. They take forever. I swear it's the slowest line in the city. It's just my luck that it's the one line that takes me close to the office. Checking my watch I see that I'm not really _too_ late. I'm still in the "acceptably late zone", so I decide that I'm headed for my morning coffee before going into the office. Dean & DeLuca is just a few steps away from the subway and my office and I know that Rosalie will forgive me if I arrive with a coffee for her. I order a cappuccino for me and a double espresso for Rose; I also take a couple of pastries to make nice since I'm a little later than I planned. Some guy was taking forever at the counter, too busy focusing on his phone to pay attention and get in and out. I've no patience for people like that.

I'm trying to balance everything, shove the pastries into my bag and make my way across the street to my building before it gets much later. I really should stop and get everything settled before I head out; but I just don't want to hear Rosalie's whining. I've already heard my phone chirp at me; I just know it's her texting to find out where I am. It's as I'm thinking this that I run into something, or should I say someone who has decided to stop right outside of the door. Damn, it's that jerk & his phone. Luckily, he's got quick reflexes and helps me level out the cardboard carrier with my coffee before it spills.

"Ugh, did you have to check your phone right there? As if it wasn't bad enough you were so focused on it while you were inside, now you're stopping right outside the door and futzing with it some more? Couldn't you wait to play Words with Friends until you got someplace else?"

"Well, I'll have you know I'm not playing Words right now; although I do happen to be winning 3 out of the 4 games I'm in. I'm trying to figure out where I need to be right now."

I so didn't have time for this today.

"Great. Well, I know where I have to be today, and it's that building right there across the street. So, if you wouldn't mind…"

He smiles and sweeps his arm out making some kind of grand gesture for me to pass. I shake my head and dart through the traffic stopped at the light to get to my building.

"Morning Felix." Our doorman is always so friendly, and helps me run interference with Rosalie when I'm running late.

"She's been looking for you Bella. She's called down here twice already. "

"Thanks. I've got coffee though. I'm hoping it'll help."

"Good luck with that."

As I'm in the elevator headed up to my office, I start thinking about the man I ran into. He looked a little familiar, but with that baseball cap on, it was hard to tell. I was trying to figure out where I knew him from. Maybe he was someone that I'd worked with in the past. Perhaps he worked for one of the printers we dealt with? Maybe he was from school? It was a big school and maybe I just saw him around campus. I hated when stuff like this happened. Rose always teased me because I was really bad with faces. I did a lot of work on the phone and had a crazy ability to remember people's names and important telephone numbers; but faces, I really did have a tough time putting names to faces, or remembering how I recognize someone.

I didn't have long to think about it, as the elevator opened on the fifth floor and brought me into work. As I walked onto the floor, I bypassed my own office and headed straight for Rose's.

"I know, I know, I'm late. But that subway sucks. Honestly. I don't think it could get any slower. It's like the damn train was pulled by rats instead of running on electricity. Here, I got you an espresso."

While she may have rolled her eyes at me for a moment, Rose took the espresso and started to guzzle it almost immediately.

"Alright, Swan. Your peace offering's accepted. Emmett broke the coffee maker. God only knows how since it's a one-shot, but I needed caffeine this morning."

Laughing outwardly wouldn't be a good move at this moment, so I kept my snickering to myself. I could just imagine Emmett trying to work the coffee maker and getting fed up with it. He really wasn't the type to have a ton of patience when it came to little stuff like that.

"Ah. It's starting to kick in. Thanks. Now, we've got our meeting in 30 with Product Development and I want to make sure that we've got all of our ducks in a row. Go get your stuff and come right back."

I threw the bag with the pastries at Rose and made my way out her door to my office. She made a quick catch.

Rose and I both worked at Scholastic. Yes, the book fair company. I can still remember having little book fairs when I was a kid and getting the Scholastic order form. But the company is so much more than that. We're a huge publisher, educational software developer and involved in children's television programming. I think we've got 11 shows on air now.

I met Rose at school, when we were both at NYU. We graduated at the same time, but I had to take some time off and go home because my grandmother was ill. My father was unable to care for her and my mother, well, she wasn't interested in taking care of her ex-husband's ailing mother. So, it fell to me. After eight months, she died. While I was truly sad she was gone, it was hard to be too sad knowing that she had 86 wonderful years. It took a couple of months to wrap up her estate and take care of all of her belongings before I could head back east and get on with my life. My father was sad to see me leave. I think he was hoping I would stay in Washington with him, but after getting a taste of city life, I couldn't stay away. I had to go back. That's where I was meant to be, to get my career started.

Rose had landed a job at Scholastic in the Education division as a Business Manager almost right out of school. Thankfully, she was able to hook me up with someone in HR and I managed to get a job as a Business Manager as well. Rose had seniority and didn't let me forget it; but not in an overly obnoxious way. She was hoping to move up to become a director in the Product Development department. While I was hoping to eventually move up to become a Marketing Director. We were both good at our jobs, and I had no doubt that when the time was right, we'd both be tapped for the jobs we hoped for. So since our meeting was with Product Development and that's where she was hoping to be promoted to, Rose was extra focused on having 'our ducks in a row'.

We made it to the meeting, which was a success and through the rest of the day without incident. We ordered lunch in, ate at our desks and got everything done in enough time to make it to our pilates class at the gym across the street. I loved Equinox. It was so convenient, had great classes and wasn't full of juiced-up muscle-heads. After pilates we grabbed a quick drink from the juice bar and headed home.

The next day I was late again. I suppose that I could have left the apartment just a few minutes earlier, but I really didn't want to do that. After having to hit snooze twice this morning it was a given I needed some coffee before heading into the office; so I ran into Dean & DeLuca again. As I opened the door, I ran smack into someone coming out.

"Sorry." It was the guy with the phone again.

"You seem to make a habit of running into me." He was shaking off the coffee that spilled on his hand from when I bumped into him.

"You seem to make a habit of being near the door."

"I suppose you may be right."

"No phone today though."

"No, someone had mentioned to me I shouldn't futz with it."

I still couldn't figure out where I knew him from. He was handsome, even with the ball cap & day old stubble. Or was it because of it? I couldn't really tell.

"Good advice. Sorry again."

"Not a problem. Have a good day."

"You too."

He made his way down the street and I made my way in for my coffee.

My morning was busy, but I still managed to get over to the gym during lunch. We had an event in the evening that would be good for me to stop at. It was a celebratory event for an author who we just signed. The Shiver books were a big success and we are banking on her Raven Boys series being just as successful, if not more so with the Scholastic name behind them. So, since I was eyeing a position in marketing, I really had no choice but to go tonight.

Forty-five minutes on the elliptical machine and a quick shower later and I was downstairs grabbing something quick from Dean & DeLuca. I found myself thinking about the man I kept running into, wondering if he came here for lunch too. Unfortunately, I didn't see him.

I managed to make it through the rest of the day yesterday and the evening event last night without a hitch. I was so happy today was Friday. I had plans with Ben, Rose & Emmett. Nothing big, just going out for dinner and some drinks afterward. We were hoping to cheer Ben up since his girlfriend just dumped him. None of us ever liked Lauren. She always seemed like she had someplace she'd rather be, or something ( or someone) she'd rather be doing.

Much to my surprise, I bumped into Rose coming out of the subway.

"Must. Have. Coffee."

"You still haven't gotten a new machine?"

"No, and I don't trust Emmett to do it either."

"Come on, let's go then."

We walked into Dean & DeLuca to get our morning caffeine fix. As we were walking towards the line, I noticed phone guy at the counter, just getting his drink. He started walking towards us, which made me smile.

"Good morning. I almost didn't recognize you since you weren't by the door." He looked surprised for some reason, but recovered quickly.

"Good morning to you too. I almost didn't recognize you, because I got to see your face first, instead of the top of your head as you crashed into me."

"Ha. Ha."

"I've got to run. Have a good day. Be careful, you wouldn't want to run into another unsuspecting guy with his coffee."

"I think I'll manage. You too."

I turned back to Rose feeling bad that I had been ignoring her. It's not like I could introduce her, I really didn't know the guy. I was surprised though to find Rose looking at me with what could only be considered a shocked expression.

"You really do need coffee, Rose; your mouth is hanging open."

"Bella. What was that about?"

"Oh, that? That's phone guy. I ran into him quite literally a couple of mornings ago when I came here for coffee. I was getting pissed because he took forever to place an order and the he was blocking the door as I was leaving and I ran smack into him outside. Then yesterday, I ran into him again. I was walking in and he was walking out. I don't want to say it, because I know you're just gonna make fun of me for it, but I feel like I've seen him somewhere before. Does he look familiar to you?"

"Are you kidding me Bella?"

"What?"

"Seriously. Are you kidding me?"

"Come on Rose, I know, I'm bad with faces, but don't start with the Dory bull shit alright? I haven't even had my coffee yet." Rose, Emmett, Ben and the gang called me Dory from time to time, after that blue fish from _Finding Nemo_. I was usually a good sport, but just wasn't in the mood this morning.

"Oh damn, you're serious. You have no clue who that was."

"Nope. Not a one. Should I? We went to school with him didn't we? Did you hook up with him? Was he one of our TA's?"

"Should you recognize him? I can't believe you." The bitch actually smacked me on the back of the head. Ouch. That hurt. "Unless you've been living under a rock for the past few years and haven't seen a movie, magazine or looked on the internet, hell yeah you should recognize him. Bella, that was Edward Cullen."

**===B&P===**

**Thanks for taking a moment to read my first Twilight story. I've written for other fandoms before but this story in my head just seemed to suit the Twilight world best. **


End file.
